• "Clean" (bare, on the DVD version of the album) – 3:44
• "Free" (B-side to UK LCD BONG 35 Precious CD, on the Japanese version of the album) – 5:11
• "Newborn" (B-side on the "A Pain That I'm Used To" single)
• "Better Days" (B-side on the "Suffer Well" single)
• "Waiting for the Night" (bare, iTunes pre-order track)

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Singles

1. "Precious" (03 October 2005)
2. "A Pain That I'm Used To" (09 December 2005)
3. "Suffer Well" (20 March 2006)
4. "John the Revelator / Lilian" (4 June 2006) Double A-Side

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Reaction

Playing the Angel was welcomed by fans as a return to the form for Depeche Mode. Many felt that the band had finally found itself after losing Alan Wilder in 1995.

Reviews have been mostly strong for Playing the Angel. E! Online and Entertainment Weekly gave the album high scores. Indie music website Pitchfork Media gave the album a positive review but criticized its lack of innovation. There are some negative reviews however - Rolling Stone magazine, historically unfriendly to Depeche Mode albums, gave the album a 2.5 out of 5, lower than what Exciter received.

The album was #20 on E! Online's top 20 albums of 2005 list and #68 on Woxy 97.7's top 97 albums of 2005.

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Miscellanea

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

• The name "Playing the Angel" is taken from a lyric in the closing song "The Darkest Star". ("Oh you sad one, playing the angel isn't so easy where you're from") It is the fourth Depeche Mode album to get its name from a lyric in its album, the other three being Construction Time Again, Some Great Reward and Black Celebration, whose titles come from "Pipeline," "Lie to Me," and "Black Celebration" respectively. However, even excluding "The Darkest Star", the word "angel" appears in the songs "John the Revelator," "Suffer Well," and "Precious." As such, it is easy to see that there was a recurring theme in the album that likely helped decide the title.
• The symbol for the album is a little creature called "Tubby Goth" (by the band) and "Mister Feathers" (by the label, the webmaster and the fans.)
• "Precious" and "I Want It All" were both played in their entirety in two Smallville episodes, both in the fifth season. "Precious" was played at the end of "Arrival", and "I Want It All" at the end of "Fanatic." "Precious" was also featured on CSI, while "A Pain That I'm Used To" was featured on Bones.
• A parody of "John the Revelator", entitled "Martin the Divorcer" was released on the internet, and features lyrics about Martin Gore's divorce from lingerie designer and model, Suzanne Boisvert, in January 2006.
• "Suffer Well" was featured, with vocals re-recorded in Simlish, in The Sims 2: Open for Business. A machinima video for the song was also made.[2]
• The album is considered by numerous fans to be poorly mastered [3] [4], relying on heavy compression to intentionally and artificially boost the output. Due to the format's inherent characteristics, vinyl versions are unaffected by the perceived poor mastering of the CD versions.

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Personnel

• Andy Fletcher – keyboards, bass
• Dave Gahan – lead vocals (except "Macro" and "Damaged People"), backup vocals ("Macro")
• Martin Gore – keyboards, guitar, bass ("Suffer Well"), backup vocals, lead vocals ("Macro" and "Damaged People")
• Ben Hillier – producer, mixer, engineer
• Steve Fitzmaurice – mixer
• Dave McCracken – programming, piano on "The Darkest Star" (miscredited to "I Want it All" in booklet)
• Richard Morris – programming, engineer
• Christian Eigner – programming ("Suffer Well", "I Want It All," and "Nothing's Impossible")
• Andrew Phillpott – programming ("Suffer Well", "I Want It All," and "Nothing's Impossible")

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External links

• Album Bio from Official Site
• (In German) Blog and pictures of a fan on the 2006 tour